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Yanks set roster for Legends Series in Panama

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Derek Jeter will be among the Yankees heading to Panama.

By Paul Hagen
/
MLB.com |

TAMPA, Fla. -- The Yankees were tweaking their travel roster for the historic Legends Series against the Marlins until the end. Manager Joe Girardi announced Thursday morning that he had decided not to take catcher Brian McCann as expected, replacing him with Francisco Cervelli.

"I just thought it worked better if [McCann] stayed here seeing our starters," the manager said before a 6-0 split-squad Grapefruit League win over the Orioles at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Adam Warren and CC Sabathia will face the Marlins at Rod Carew Stadium. This allows McCann to be behind the plate for Masahiro Tanaka on Sunday and Hiroki Kuroda on Monday.

Girardi said several factors went into determining which players would make the trip. He said that Derek Jeter had a "responsibility" to go, and that he wanted to keep his regular outfield together in Panama and the rest of his infield as a unit in Florida. Taking some Latin stars for the Panamanian audience was a minor consideration.

"A little bit, yeah," Girardi said. "Obviously, I'm sure they follow a lot of our Latin stars. But they follow all our players because of Mo. They follow their team."